A few years back when it was announced that Mommy’s Best Games, developers of the fantastic Xbox Live Indie titles like Shoot 1Up, were making a game in the franchise I was more than a little intrigued. Serious Sam Double D was a 2D sidescrolling shooter in the vein of Contra and was a blast to play. In February, the 2D action is coming to Xbox Live in a special edition port called Serious Sam Double D XXL and it looks to add even more insanity to the already insane game.
You are still traversing 2D levels as “Serious” Sam killing almost everything that moves. However, in our preview we also saw a brand new level called “Rocketboard” which featured Sam using a jet powered snowboard to travel down the side of a pyramid. This level felt like it was really embracing the lunacy that is synonymous with the franchise. Using the gigantic and destructive “Biomechanoid” as a ramp to get some air off of is everything that I could want from a Serious Sam game. It’s a fairly fast level but hopefully the full game features a bunch more of these new levels in order to keep the game feeling fresh.
The biggest addition that players will notice when playing is that the game now has an economy for buying upgrades for weapons. Killing more enemies means more cash. One of the first upgrades you can get is an addition to your default machine pistol that allows you to float as you shoot. This allows you to more easily find all of the various secrets in the game and also allows you to jump above your enemies and stay out of danger when you’ve got a huge group of enemies. Guns can have a number of different upgrades as well. Combine this with the ability to stack up to six guns on top of each other and you have a death machine that makes you feel sorry for Mental’s minions.
Serious Sam Double D was a fantastic game and the Xbox Live Arcade port looks to be even better than the original. With all new weapons, new levels and co-op, it’s a game that everyone should be excited for. Serious Sam Double D XXL launches on February 20th on the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points.
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